


I’ll keep you safe and hold you tight

by OhGoshOhJeez



Category: Black Friday - Team StarKid
Genre: Ableist Language, Autistic hannah, Four times Lex defended Hannah and one time Hannah defended lex, Sisterly Love, dysfunctional family relationships, ethan is trying his best but he’s pure of heart and dumb of ass, just Lex and Hannah’s mother being awful at the end, people not being understanding of someone with autism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-11
Updated: 2019-12-24
Packaged: 2021-01-27 10:30:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,798
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21390688
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OhGoshOhJeez/pseuds/OhGoshOhJeez
Summary: This art was made by a good friend of mine, Millie, the amazing @ pointlessnach0s on Instagram!!
Relationships: Ethan greene/Lex Foster
Comments: 16
Kudos: 124





	1. Chapter 1

“Dude, your sister is such a spaz.”

Lex shut her eyes, her mouth twisting into a snarl.

He probably thought that she wouldn’t retaliate, which is why he didn’t expect her to turn around and punch him right in the face. Thank god hannah was wearing her headphones, or she would have heard the sound of the guy’s nose snapping.

His friends all gathered around him, pulling him up off the ground, bleeding and stunned.

“You fucking say that ever again and I’ll break your face.” She spat, and took Hannah by the shoulders, guiding her onto the bus.

“Who were you talking to?” Her sister asked, pulling one of her headphone ears off to the side.

“No one.” Lex smiled. She hid her bloodied fist in her pocket. 

—————————

“Your sister has not being paying attention during classes.” The principal of Hannah’s school said, pushing his circular glasses up onto the bridge of his nose.

“That doesn’t make sense, she gets straight A’s.”

“We think that she’s being...Distracted. By other students in the class.”

“Well, have you spoken to them about it?”

The headmaster folded his hands.

“Not yet.”

“I don’t see how it’s Hannah’s fault if these kids are distracting her, you know that she has autism, she can’t help that kind of thing.”

“I am well aware of your sister’s...Condition. But she needs to start pulling her weight if she’s going to get through this semester.”

Lex huffed, rubbing her temples.

“Can’t you move her to another seat? Somewhere away from distraction?”

“I can’t go around moving students every time they start acting up. Your sister needs to learn how to focus”

Lex stared at him, her eyebrows furrowed.

“No, this is not Hannah’s fault. And that’s her name, by the way, Hannah, in case you forgot that she has one.”

“I feel like maybe if you helped her study at home instead of leaving her to her own devices-“

“I do help her study! I’ve helped her more than this fucking school ever has!”

“There’s no need for that type of language-“

“No, fuck this.” Lex said, standing up from her chair and collecting her coat, putting it on quickly.

“She doesn’t need to be here. You people have done nothing to help her. Maybe you should be yelling at those little rats who’ve been bullying Hannah, not pulling me up to talk about how distracted she is. Have a nice fucking day.” 

And with that, she stormed out, slamming the door behind her.

Hannah was waiting outside, fiddling with her sleeve.

“What did he say?” Hannah asked, and lex grabbed her hand, walking her out the waiting room.

“You’re not coming back here, okay? School’s done.”

Hannah smiled, her eyes wide as she followed her sister down the hall.

“Fuck yeah!” She said, 

“Hey, watch your fucking language!”

————————-

“C’mon, banana.” Ethan said, lightly tapping her shoulder with the back of his hand.

“Don’t wanna go.” She said, and he frowned.

“Well why not?”

She just shook her head. Her face was pale. 

“Lex, she doesn’t wanna go.” Ethan turned his head, looking at his girlfriend who was hurriedly putting her shoes on. She brushed the hair out of her face and stood up, walking over to where Hannah was sitting.

“What’s up, Hannah? Why don’t you wanna go to the park, huh?”

Hannah tugged at the frayed edges of her ripped jeans.

“Come on.” Ethan said, and tried to grab her hand.

“No!” She said, pulling her arm close to her chest and leaning away from Ethan.

“What’s your deal?”

“I don’t wanna go!”

“Stop acting like a baby.”

“Ethan.” Lex said, in a warning tone of voice.

“She’s been like this all day!” He waved his arms, exasperated. He rested his hands on his hips.

“Hannah, I need to go to work, okay? Can you just go with Ethan for a couple of hours?”

“I said no!” Hannah shouted, standing up and crossing her arms.

Ethan marched over to her before lex could stop him, and put his hands on her shoulders.

“Stop acting like such a brat, okay? You’re coming with me to the park, now let’s go.”

“Ethan!” Lex yelled.

Hannah’s bottom lip wobbled.

“...What...Hannah-“ Before Ethan could ask her what was wrong, she shook his hands off of her and ran out of the room. He could hear the sounds of her crying as she went upstairs to her bedroom and slammed the door.

Lex sighed out an “oh, god.” And covered her face with her hands.

“Ethan.”

“I- I didn’t know she would react like that!”

“No, it’s...You were just acting like Hannah is a normal kid, it’s fine.”

Ethan looked confused, shoving his hands in his pockets.

“How else am I supposed to act? She is a normal kid.”

“No, she isn’t. I mean, she is, but she’s not.”

“You’ve lost me.”

Lex sighed and sat down on the stairs.

“She’s....Sensitive. She gets upset easily, I should have told you.”

Ethan sank down next to her, taking a breath.

“I won’t yell at her anymore. I shouldn’t have done it in the first place.”

“It’s not just that.” Lex said, reaching down to hold Ethan’s hand. She wasn’t looking at him though, she was staring at the wall across from her. 

“Hannah has autism, Ethan.”

Ethan’s face dropped, and lex prepared for a ‘oh my god I’m so sorry I didn’t know’ like she usually got in this situation.

“What’s that?” He said, instead, and Lex laughed.

“She just thinks a little differently than most kids. It’s not her fault, she was born like that. She doesn’t like being touched, unless she asks first. She gets...Overwhelmed.” 

Ethan still looked puzzled. 

“Look, I didn’t tell you before ‘cause I was scared you’d start babying her, like everyone else does. Can you just...Keep it in mind? For the future?”

Ethan blinked, and squeezed her hand a little tighter.

“Yeah, yeah, I will.” 

They sat in silence for a moment. Lex contemplated what she could say to Hannah to make her feel better.

“So...Autopsy, huh?”

“Autism, Ethan.”

“Right.” 

——————

Lex and Hannah were sitting in a cafe. Lex was stirring milk into her coffee and reading a magazine as Hannah dug into a plate of fries, happily flapping her hand as she spoke.

“And Webby told me that good things are on their way, too! Do you think she meant the trip to California?”

“Maybe!” Lex said, smiling.

“I saw her in my dream last night. She had these big eight legs and these huge eyes. I could see myself in them!” 

Lex didn’t really know what Hannah was talking about, but it was the most she’d spoken in weeks so she wasn’t going to stop her.

“And the web stretched all across the galaxy. It had stars inside it.” She waved her arms in the air, as if picturing the web above her.

Her hands dropped back down and she smiled brightly, rocking back and forth, her back hitting her chair.

“Excuse me,” a voice said from behind Lex. She turned and saw an elderly woman, with greying hair and a pearl necklace.

“Could you tell your daughter to be quiet? She’s disrupting our meal.” She said, and the man across from her scowled in Hannah’s direction.

“I’m sorry, I don’t think she was being that loud.”

“Well it wasn’t just her voice, she keeps flapping around like that.”

Lex’s mouth dropped open.

“One, I’m surprised you can hear her talking at all since you don’t have your hearing aid in, and two, if your meal is disturbed by a kid having fun then I’m glad that it is, you old farts. If you don’t like it you can move somewhere else.”

The woman gaped at her, as did her husband. She picked up her purse and left to sit in another booth.

Hannah’s mouth was wide open.

“Damn, Lex!” She said.

“Whatever, they’re like one foot in the grave anyway so who gives a shit.”

Hannah laughed loudly, and continued on with her story.

—————-

“I can’t believe you, Alexandra.” Lex’s mother said, smoking a cigarette and pacing back and forth. “How the hell am I supposed to pay rent? You’re the one with a job. God, are you really that useless?”

“Mom, I told you, our paychecks got halved, I tried to save up enough but I just-“

“Why didn’t you sell that weed you got?”

Lex bit at the inside of her cheek.

“I was going to, you smoked all of it.”

“Oh, so this is  _ my  _ fault?”

“I didn’t say that.”

“That’s what you were fucking thinking!”

“Look, I’ll get the money by the end of the week. I know a guy who owes me a favour.”

Her mother scoffed, taking a long draw of her cigarette before putting it out on the small table Lex sat at.

“You’d better. Cause if you don’t, you’ll be out on your ass.”

“Wouldn’t that be the dream.” Lex mumbled.

“What did you just say to me, you little shit?” Her mother’s eyes narrowed. Lex stared back at her defiantly.

“You heard me.”

Her mother scoffed, and approached her, grabbing Lex by the lapel of her jacket. She could smell the whiskey on her mother’s breath as she snarled in her face.

“You stupid shit.”

“She’s not stupid!” 

Lex and her mother’s head whipped around. Hannah was standing in the doorway.

“Go back to bed, Han.” Lex said, her voice was shaking.

“No. Mom, stop bullying her.” She was holding a small, porcelain piggy bank in her hands.

“You can’t tell me what to do, I am your  _ mother!” _

Hannah marched over and put the piggy bank on the table, the noise of it hitting the wood making her mom jump.

“I’ve saved enough to cover rent this month. Leave lex alone. You can have it.”

Her mother paused, before reaching out and taking the bank, opening the plug at the bottom and upending it into her hand. Three twenty dollar bills fell out. She stuffed them in her pocket. 

“Fine. I’m going to the bar, you two better be in bed by the time I get back.”

And with that, she left, slamming the trailer door behind her.

Lex waited until she knew she was gone before yelling,

“You BITCH!”

She took a deep breath, holding her head in her hands, sniffling.

She felt Hannah wrap her arms around her shoulders, and couldn’t contain the sob that left her throat. She brought her hands up and clutched at Hannah’s arms, tears spilling from her eyes.

“It’s okay, Lex. She’s gone.” Hannah stroked her back comfortingly.

“Things will be better once we get to California.” She said, and Lex chuckled.

“I hope so,”

  
  
  



	2. “Autopsy, Huh?”

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This art was made by a good friend of mine, Millie, the amazing @ pointlessnach0s on Instagram!!


End file.
